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WASHINGTON — Brian Burke pulls as many punches as the great Rocky Marciano used to.

And as any boxing stats freak can recite, the Brockton Blockbuster deposited 43 opponents on their backsides for the 10-count in 49 pro fights.

Well, if the bellicose Burke was trying to land a haymaker on Sven Baertschi’s psychological button with that withering assault on the kid’s competitive fire and three-zone commitment the other day — and this is someone who doesn’t do anything without calculation — he hit the mark.

Again. And again. A visceral, dazzling, frightening combination of punches, in fact.

*“All I’ve seen are flashes of brilliance. And flashes of brilliance are fine if you’re working at a university but they’re not much good to people in an NHL building.” Zing!

*“He’s got to learn there’s three zones on the ice surface in this league. I don’t see that he’s learned to play or compete in two of them.” Whap!

*“He’s gotta learn there’s a clock in this league, so many minutes in the game, and you’ve got to compete through all of them. And all I see this is a guy focusing on one area, then only sporadically.” Ka-Pow!

*“I’m not ready to quit on a young kid, not ready to throw him under bus here today. I’m not going to rip him. I think you can tell from my comments that I see big holes and a lack of commitment that’s not going to get him anywhere in my books.” Mother of mercy, check out those tire tracks!

Sven Baerteshi is, at 20, still a young man, yes. But a child? No. Not many children earn $1.4 million for seven months of playtime.

And, remember, this wasn’t some mangy rabble-rousing media mutt looking to stir the bile and get a free story on a slow day talking. This was the newly-installed President of Hockey Ops. The boss. The biggest cheese.

So after being sheltered from the waiting cameras and impatient scribblers back at home the day after Burke’s biting critique, Baertschi emerged from witness protection, far from the maddening throng, Wednesday, on the eve of the season opener at the Verizon Centre.

“I’m trying to play as good as I can,” he said, apparently unscarred, smiling as always, friendly as ever. “I know there’s some points I have to develop and some things I have to be better at. That’s why we’re here.

“Sometimes it’s good when other people tell you certain things. Maybe you don’t see it at the start but then other people see it and try to help you. It’s great to have him around and the coaching staff that we have.”

So, when Baertschi first got wind of the big man’s tirade, how did react? Did he burst a blood vessel? Topple over in disbelief? Call his agent? Or a psychiatrist, maybe?

“It’s tough,” he replied, “to explain. I mean, I’ve had coaches during my career, people during my career, that were saying certain things to me and at the start I didn’t know how to take it. That’s why I love challenges. And that’s another challenge. People want something from you, right now, and that’s a big challenge for me.

“It should be that way. You always want to be challenged to play your best game.

“I think there’s a lot of ways to take, let’s say, criticism. But I take it as a good criticism. He’s been around the league. He understands the game. He knows everything you need to know.

“So having criticism from him is a good criticism because he wants to make me better.”

The verbal pistol-whipping absorbed from Burke was, unsurprisingly, met with universal empathy from Baertschi’s peers. Most everyone in that dressing room has at one time or another found themselves the stationary target at the wrong end of that sort of firing range.

“It can be hard,” commiserated a veteran campaigner, Lee Stempniak. “I think no one’s probably put as much pressure on themselves as the player. I know Sven wants to be a difference maker and play really well.

“At times, I know from experience, sometimes the hardest thing is that you put so much pressure on yourself that it can bog you down a little bit. So I don’t think hearing it from Brian Burke adds that much more. But maybe it lights a little bit of a fire.

“He’s looked really good the last couple days in practice. I think he’s ready for a great season but you just can’t worry about those external things. You’ve got to take it a game at a time. Consistency, how you play the game . . . the results tend to follow that. As long as he’s playing well and doing things right and gaining the coach’s confidence he’ll get the ice time and he’ll get his points.”

That’s what everyone hopes for.

If in his short time in this organization, Burke detected any sense of entitlement or any grand airs in the young sniper, he ceraibly addressed them in characteristic fashion on Monday.

“I’m such a young guy,” said Baertschi 48 hours later, “and it was a dream to come up to the NHL. When I was playing two years at home I was a superstar over there. Always playing first line and everything was great. And then I came over here and it started to get a little tougher in Portland and I had to fight for a spot. Then a few years later, I’m in the NHL. It’s a dream coming true. Also with that dream there’s a lot of things I have to do and a lot of things I’ve got to be better at than other people.

“I’m not going to give up. I’m going to keep going,

“One thing is for sure: I’m really looking forward to playing (Thursday).”

If, post-eruption, there were any histrionics or pouting behind the scenes, those issues had been resolved, at least publicly, as the Flames readied for what promises to be a taxing season. As conciliatory as he was behaving the day after being let out of witness protection, Sven Baertschi had to still feel the lingering sting of those haymakers.

Just as the deliverer intended.

Brian Burke certainly doesn’t pull any punches, and in the wake of his astonishing, dazzling assault, the choice he left is clear:

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